Seeds of change.. grow better when watched

Ok, I know I can “do right” — eat less, exercise, whatever — but I’ll create change if I reinforce these behaviors by reflecting on how I succeeded and on things I regret from the last day or two.

One thing I learned from IOWL (inside-out weight loss) is that we all self-correct. Yo-yo dieting is self-correcting, just not sustainable. Letting myself go for a year then getting back on the wagon is self-correcting, too, but awfully slow. I will have greater success and create change when I self-correct in a shorter window: take only a day off the diet, not a week, or have only a couple extra bites, not the rest of a plate that I don’t really need.

So, 3 things I did right or self-corrected:

• I was tempted to order a pizza, but didn’t! I’m not going to get anywhere if I say “screw it” too easily. I’ll have the pizza sometime, but I’m going to wait for some occasion, not just being tired and not wanting to cook.
• I got on the treadmill while playing WoW and forgot I was on it for over 2 hours. I had started out on the couch, and could have easily just stayed there, but I knew that I wouldn’t succeed with that behavior. I’m not going to avoid the couch, because each time I get up from it in the future, I will be demonstrating my self-control and making it stronger with exercise.
• I ate my calorie limit by early afternoon, but resisted eating more, even though I was hungry. I knew I’d had enough, and the feeling soon subsided. One thing I did wrong, to put myself over my limit so early, was to eat a “pre-meal snack” because I was impatient for lunch to be ready. I didn’t eat less lunch because of it, it was just extra calories! So, next time I am inclined to eat something handy because I don’t want to wait 10-15 minutes for a meal, I’ll get up and make some tea or something, just to kill the time and get past the impulse. It’s ok to be hungry for a few minutes!